The rivalry between Manchester United and Liverpool is one of the most legendary and well-known in all of English football, and it is also one of the most romanticized. Due to the fact that they are played between the two most illustrious clubs in terms of both their history and their fanbase, they continue to be considered the two most important matches played during each Premier League season.
But over the next couple of months, the next chapter of the rivalry will involve both clubs being up for sale at the same time, placed on the market by American owners ready to cash out for enormous profits. This will be the beginning of a new phase in the competition.
After Fenway Sports Group (FSG) announced their plan to seek new investment or sell up at Anfield, the Glazers followed suit on Tuesday by making a public proclamation that they were open to similar interest at Old Trafford. This announcement came a couple of weeks after FSG announced their intention to seek new investment or sell up at Anfield.
Nobody seriously anticipates that either of these deals will result in the introduction of new minority investors to the respective clubs. It is likely that they will result in full sales.
Kieran Maguire, an authority on football finance and the author of "The Price of Football," does not see a problem with the two clubs competing for the same buyers and can understand why both clubs are on the market at the same time.
Maguire was quoted as saying something along these lines to the Manchester Evening News: "If you had 200 bidders for Chelsea, I don't see a problem here; however, I think it is more than a coincidence."
"Both Manchester United and Liverpool were very much in favor of the Super League, of Project Big Picture, which would have allowed them to sell broadcasts of their own home matches to fans. This opportunity would have been made available to them through the Super League.
"That was a main way to grow income, so if that's no longer available, is there a case in saying from the point of view of FSG and the Glazers, neither of them particularly wants to put money into the club to grow it themselves, that they've taken the clubs as far as they can, in terms of making money out of them?" "That was a main way to grow income, so if that's no longer available, is there a case in saying from the point of view
With a brand new training ground that cost fifty million dollars and the renovation of Anfield set to be completed next summer, Liverpool might appear to be a more secure proposition right now. The new training ground opened less than two years ago.
On the other hand, the Glazers have decided to sell their property at a time when master planners are engaged in the process of drawing up plans to improve facilities at Carrington and Old Trafford without having secured funding for the projects.
But Maguire believes that this could actually make United the more attractive long-term proposition, particularly for buyers who see tearing down Old Trafford and building a new stadium on that site as the way to move forward in the long run.
"The turnaround will be more difficult at Old Trafford than it will be at Anfield, but if it is a more difficult turnaround, the rewards may also be more significant." "Liverpool is a much more attractive prospect if I were looking to buy real estate with the intention of flipping it in three to five years," he said.
There is no reason why Manchester United shouldn't be more appealing to me than Liverpool if my goal is to maintain ownership of the club for as long as the Glazers have.
You still have the historic problem of a lack of space, and the catering facilities are not as modern as they could be. If you add an extension to a stand at Old Trafford, it just starts to look like a bit of Jenga. The catering business at Spurs currently brings in £800,000 per game.
"Spurs will have increased their annual matchday income from £35 million to either £110 million or £120 million." When you multiply that number by ten or twenty years, you'll start to see the rewards."
Maguire does not anticipate a drawn-out sale process at United and believes that there is a possibility that the club will change ownership before the end of the current campaign.
According to what he said, "The Raine Group will now take expressions of interest." "They will look at two things: the first is whether or not the potential bidders are serious. After that, they will whittle it down to the one option that they think is the best out of the bunch.
"Then they will give them access to what we refer to as the data, but in reality it's the inner sanctum of United, such as precisely what it is that you are purchasing and what financial commitments the club has.
"This makes it possible for the bidder to construct a model and arrive at more accurate price estimates. After that, I have a sneaking suspicion that we will either hold a reverse auction or accept sealed bids until the 31st of March, at which point the item will be awarded to the person who submitted the highest offer.
"That is the approach I would anticipate from here with the goal of finalizing the deal before the end of the season," the speaker said.
The question that needs to be answered next is who will wind up in charge at Old Trafford. The private equity investors from the United States who were unsuccessful in their bid for Chelsea are likely to try again, and there is also the possibility of interest coming from the Middle East. This is especially likely given that this announcement was made just prior to the beginning of the World Cup in the region.
Maguire can see why technology companies like Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Netflix might be interested in the club, but he also understands why other fans might be drawn to the team.
He said, "We take these figures with a grain of salt; however, if they truly do have 1.1 billion followers, then you can't get them to Old Trafford; however, can you get Old Trafford to a few million of them?" "We take these figures with a pinch of salt; however, if they truly do have 1.1 billion followers, then you can't get them to Old Trafford."
"If you can get five million fans to pay £10 each to watch Manchester United play at home, then it's Manchester United making £50 million from each home game through additional broadcasting revenue. " After that, everything is different. Therefore, I believe that a tech investor could view that as a fantastic opportunity to monetize one of the most well-known sporting brands in the world.
"Then you've got people glued to the screen for ninety minutes, and you can sell them a lot, directly and indirectly, in that time," the speaker said.
"Do you think it's a coincidence that this news broke right when the World Cup kicked off? There is a lot of wealth in that region, and they are going to be excited by what they're seeing in Qatar at the moment. The Middle East and that area in north Africa are currently the center of attention for the entire world. On the strength of that, why not let yourself get pumped up by going to buy Manchester United or Liverpool on the strength of it?
"Then you can't completely discount Sir Jim Ratcliffe, but I seriously doubt that he'd be willing to pay the prices that have been mentioned. Why should we pay more than 20 times what the Saudis paid a year ago to acquire Newcastle? Although Manchester United has a larger fanbase and makes more frequent appearances in Europe, it does not appear to be in the club's best interest to pay a multiple that is comparable to that of Newcastle.
